Home sweet home: Simple updates can keep your house spectacular

Looking to upgrade your home this year? One strong trend is toward “universal design”: making homes comfortable and accessible for everyone, regardless of size, mobility or age.

Carolyn Sperry

Looking to upgrade your home this year? One strong trend is toward “universal design”: making homes comfortable and accessible for everyone, regardless of size, mobility or age.

This concept really resonates with homeowners who need to accommodate older parents and fits in just fine with other concepts such as green remodeling and opening up existing homes.

Try looking at home modification as preventative — deal with accessibility problems before they arise. And instead of looking at aging as the issue you’re confronting, “An alternate perspective is that the environment is the problem, irrespective of the abilities of the consumer,” says Julie Overton of the Fall Prevention Center of Excellence (homemods.org), part of the USC Andrus Gerontology Center in Los Angeles.

Happily, plenty of current remodeling trends are both fun and practical and speak to homeowners in all stages of life.

Bathroom remodeling: Upgrading a bathroom is less expensive than redoing a kitchen, and a spa-like bathroom can offer a big emotional payoff. New tiles, fixtures or even a new exhaust fan can go a long way toward a more contemporary look. For those with an eye toward accessibility, open, easy-access showers are not only practical but can be attractive, too. For people with mobility issues, another option is well-placed grab bars. A hand-held showerhead is helpful and luxurious.

Green remodeling: Green remodeling has grown in popularity in recent years and will continue to be a big trend in 2011. To take part in this trend, you can redo your home in gorgeous, locally obtained or recycled materials — or simply make small upgrades such as pipe insulation, repainting with low-VOC paint or using a tankless hot water heater. Using green materials can benefit indoor air quality, an important consideration for those with asthma or other breathing issues.

Getting real: Many homeowners are being more practical than a decade ago — investing in minor updates, for example, instead of tearing out an entire kitchen. Staining or painting cabinets instead of replacing them, replacing outdated hardware or light fixtures, and removing carpet and renovating existing hardwood flooring add value while remaining relatively cheap. These strategic changes can add value and offer a much-needed change.

Staycation planning: People are spending more time in their homes these days. For many, making the most of family time at home translates to fun updates: new decks, pools or even home theaters.

Open concept: The trend toward “opening up” spaces is still going strong — removing a wall to make a kitchen less closed off, for example, has an obvious appeal. It also presents an opportunity to reconsider the size of doorways for those in wheelchairs. For do-it-yourselfers, use caution and make sure you’re not removing a load-bearing wall.